Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places
by Knife Hand
Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done. Chapter 2 up
1. Chapter 1

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

* * *

Xander was wandering around Ethan's Costume Shop, trying to think of a new costume idea now that the last of the toy guns had gone. He turned a corner and ran into an irate Cordelia Chase, holding a bag with a costume in it.

"Jeez, look where you are going Harris." She said with her usual superior tone.

"Cordy. What are you doing in a place like this?" Xander replied, long since having gotten use to Queen C's attitude.

"Like I have a choice, dweebabzoid. I had an amazing costume all lined up at Party Town and then they had to go and get flooded, leaving me slumming at this place." The Cheerleader said before pushing past Xander and out of the store.

"Hey Xander. Was that…?" Buffy said from behind him.

Buffy and Willow had come up behind him, Willow giving him a small wave.

"Hey Buff, Wills. Yeah, lovely breath of vile air, she was… woah!" Xander responded.

They had just turned into another isle and Xander was awed at the costumes he saw in front of him. Willow seemed excited while Xander simply stood in shock.

"Ahh, I see you have excellent taste in Science Fiction." A man said from behind them.

"Holy Hell!" Buffy exclaimed. "Don't do that. It'll get you killed around here."

"My most sincere apologies." The man said. "My name is Ethan Rayne, The proprietor of this establishment. Let me make it up to you by selling those three costumes to you are half price, but only if you take all three."

"Done!" Willow squeaked.

* * *

Buffy was actually quite impressed with the costumes that they had gotten from the slightly creepy costume store owner. They were in shades of black, gray and dark red, were loose in the right places to allow for freedom of movement when running or fighting but were tight enough in others that they would not interfere with strikes or footwork. Plus the coat just made it look cool, again without interfering much with fighting. On the right breast was a greenish jewel that seemed surrounded by to figures that were joined at the bottom. The only part of the costume that Buffy could not figure out was the small metal cylinder that was at her waist.

Buffy had originally been drawn to a beautiful flowing gown, the kind she imagined had once been warn by the Nobility when Angel had been young, but then Willow had reminded her that most of the Noble Ladies in those days had been uneducated and forced to follow the whims of their husbands, which had immediately offended her modern independent nature. She had spent quite a while convincing Willow not to go as a ghost and in the end they had agreed that Willow would go for a less… concealing outfit if Buffy would wear a costume that both Willow and Xander approved of. She had half expected to be in skin-tight spandex or a revealing outfit that barely avoided her being arrested for indecent exposure. Compared to that this outfit and the matching ones worn by Xander and Willow were a joy.

Suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over Buffy Summers. Kathrin Templeton straitened from her stumble and looked at the carnage around her. Everyone and everything around her looked confused. It looked like there were people out of time, aliens she had never seen before and things she could not even explain running everywhere, some trying to get away and others looking for a fight. Without thought she drew her Fighting Pike and extended it from its collapsed form into a full sized Quarterstaff.

"This is Shok-na Kathrin Templeton of White Star 43, does any Anla'Shok receive." She said into her communicator.

One of the aggressive little… whatever's made a run at her and she broke its wrist and knocked its feet out from under it with her Pike, causing the others to scatter.

"This is Shok-na Laura Weston, White Star 22. I have your position, am converging." A female voice came on the radio.

"Shok-na Joseph White here. White Star 11. Got a lock on you both but can not locate any of my crew." A male voice added.

"This is Shok-na Jennifer Smyth." A very confident female voice said. "White Star 19. I have run a personal communications check and I can only locate our four communicators. ETA to Shok-na Templeton's position, two minutes."

Soon the four Anla'Shok had converged and were boldly holding a conference in the middle of the street, many of the more aggressive entities around having learnt from experience that they were not to be messed with. Laura Weston was a lean woman with dark red hair, Joseph White was a taller man with slightly messy black hair and soulful brown eyes while Jennifer Smyth was a tall, lithe woman with long dark brown hair.

"Ok, so what exactly are four White Star Captains doing in what appears to be a small town on Earth without their crews?" Joseph asked.

"I don't know, but I modified my com unit to do a forced ping. There are four White Stars in orbit but no responses from any crew." Laura said. "I did mange to get a signal through to White Star 22's computer to do a local space scan for possible threats and it came back negative."

"Negative? Around Earth? What about the planetary defence grid?" Kathrin asked, shocked.

"Nothing. No debris, no intact defence satellites. It's like they're just gone." Laura replied.

"Or were never there." Jennifer said, getting incredulous looks. "I'm no expert but the stars do not look the same as when I was a girl. And I am pretty sure that star went supernova about seventy years before I was born."

They all stared up at the sky where Jennifer was pointing.

"She is right." Joseph said.

"Time Travel?" Laura asked.

"Why not?" Kathrin replied. "If you believe the report of Entil'Zha Delenn, then Entil'Zha Sinclair went back a thousand years and became Valan."

"So what do we do?" Jennifer asked.

"We're Rangers." Joseph replied. "We do what we swore to do. We live for the One."

"We die for the One." All four chorused.

* * *

It was the morning after the chaos of Halloween and the Library of Sunnydale High found itself occupied by five figures. Unsurprisingly one was the Librarian Rupert Giles. Also unsurprisingly three of the others were Buffy, Xander and Willow, all of whom spent so much time in the library that most of the students considered it to be their second home. The surprise was Cordelia Chase, because if you asked any of the popular students she would rather die than be either spend time in the library or hang out with the others in the room, but Halloween had changed all that.

"So let me see if I have the information straight." Giles said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "All four of you now have the memories and skills of Starship Captains from a Science Fiction television program?"

"Not just Captain. Anla'Shok Shok'na." Xander replied, leaving Giles even more confused.

"The Anla'Shok, or Rangers, are…" Buffy began. "I guess the best description is a mix between Special Forces and Undercover Police. Traditionally Rangers have been used to go into unexplored and dangerous places and find out what is there and battle anything that threatens civilisation. _We walk in dark places no others will enter. We stand on the bridge, and no one may pass._"

"Think of them as well trained Space versions of us." Willow said.

"And we have kickass ships. The White Stars." Cordelia added.

"You mean actual…?" Giles began.

"Of course." Cordy replied. "We wouldn't be Shok'na without our ships. The problem is there are no crew."

"Good Lord." Giles said, taking off his glasses and began to clean them.

"We have White Star 19 hidden in an abandoned Warehouse. We have the others on station on Luna's dark side, Mars orbit and Io orbit, to advanced warning of any approaching vessels." Xander explained.

"Approaching from where?" Giles asked.

"Well, in their universe, there were hundreds of different species, including the major races of the Minbari, Narn and Centauri." Willow said. "Just based solely on the number of stars in the visible universe, even if one in a million stars had a planet, one in a million of those planets were habitable and one in a million of those habitable worlds had life, then there would be dozens of other species out there."

"This is just so overwhelming." Giles said, amazed.

"Demons you take in your stride, Aliens you have a problem with?" Buffy retorted, amused.

* * *

It was a few weeks after Halloween and Xander was doing a quick patrol of one of the graveyards. Things had been fairly quiet, and they had even found an advantage over the nocturnal residents in the form of their Minbari Fighting Pikes. With the long heritage of each Pike, and the reverence they had been afforded by generations wielders, they affected Vampires and several types of demons like they were the holiest of relics, burning them with the slightest touch and killing them with ease. After confirming on White Star 19 that the uniforms and Fighting Pikes for a full crew complement of 50 were aboard the White Stars, the four Captains had decided to start training recruits to be new Rangers.

The first four recruits had been selected by Cordelia, two being from her Cheerleading squad, one from the Swimming team and one from the Football team. Naturally all were quite fit, but they were also in the top third of their class and were all dedicated to helping others, the cheerleaders and the swimmer were part of a program that helped under privileged communities in LA on the weekends while the football player was part of the Big Brother mentoring program.

The only major issues, both of them dealt with quickly, had involved people from the Gang's past, in the form of Billy Fordham, who was dying of brain cancer and thought becoming a vampire was the solution, and a literal demon from Giles' past. Both incidents ended with a fighting pike through the chest of the offending entity, Billy by Xander's and Eyghon by Buffy and Cordy's.

Now, for normal patrols at least, each of the four Shok'na was more than enough to deal with regular Sunnydale activity, thus cutting down the time it took to patrol the numerous graveyards in the town dramatically.

"You can come out now." Xander said as he stopped without warning in the middle of his patrol. "And you can explain why you have been following me for the last ten minutes."

A dark skinned girl stepped out of the bushes with her long black hair in a tight braid. She moved like a fighter and had a stake in her hand.

"I though you might be a Vampire but I am not sure. I can not feel you." she replied in a Jamaican accent.

"No. I am Anla'Shok. We fight the dark." Xander replied. "And who are you?"

"I am Kendra, the Vampire Slayer." The girl replied.

"Of course you are. Come, we will go see the local Watcher." Xander replied.

"You know a Watcher, and the last Slayer?" Kendra said, surprised.

"Yes. She is Anla'Shok too." Xander said as he turned in the direction of the Library.

Kendra looked confused. One Slayer dies, the next is Called, but this man indicated the last Slayer was still alive. Noticing that he was not stopping, Kendra hurried to catch up to this… Anla'Shok.

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Ship of the Line: Walk in Dark Places

Author: Knife Hand

Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated

Spoilers: General for Buffy and Babylon 5

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy or Babylon 5. I would buy them but I am broke.

Summary: Answer to the Ship of the Line Challenge on TTH. The Scoobies dress as people who walk in dark places and do what must be done

"" denotes speech, '' denotes thought

* * *

Kendra was in a mild state of shock when she entered the Library behind the boy claiming to be Anla'Shok. There were eight other people in the room. Behind the counter was an older man dressed in a tweed suit, who she presumed was the Watcher. Around the table in the middle of the room were four students, two male and two female, all dressed in simple black pants and tops, who were repeating a series of strange words that a blonde, in an outfit the same as the Anla'Shok, was reading out from a blackboard. A redhead, again in what Kendra presumed was the Anla'Shok uniform, was sitting and typing at the solitary computer in the entire room while a long haired brunette Anla'Shok sat on one of the sets of stairs leading up to the book stacks with a large tome in her hands.

"Giles, we have a guest." The male Anla'Shok said.

The blond said something to the four students, who all stood, bowed and then left, while the others congregated around the now vacated table.

"And who are you?" the Watcher, Giles apparently, asked.

"My name is Kendra, the Vampire Slayer." Kendra replied.

"She was following me on my patrol of West Glades." The male Anla'Shok said. "She thought I might have been a Vamp."

"Really?" Giles said, surprised. "May I ask why you thought that Xander was a Vampire?"

"It was the way he moved, sir. The only other time I have seen something move like that it was a Master Vampire."

"Yes, I must admit the four of have quite… fluid gaits, when you want." Giles said.

"Of course we do." The brunette said. "We're Rangers."

"Perhaps introductions are in order." Giles said. "Firstly, this is Xander Harris."

"Hey." Xander said, casually.

"Next is Willow Rosenberg." The Watcher continued.

The redhead, Willow, simply smiled and waved.

"Cordelia Chase." Giles said, indicating to the brunette. "And Buffy Summers, who is also a Vampire Slayer."

"Welcome to the club." Buffy, the blond, said with a smile.

"I mean no disrespect, but should you not be…?" Kendra asked.

"Dead? Yeah, well I got better, with a little help from my friends." Buffy replied.

"They all want to be called Rangers, or Shok'na, or Anla'Shok, or something." Giles said with a confused tone.

"Really simple, G-man." Xander said, grinning as Giles rolled his eyes. "Our order is called Rangers in English and Anla'Shok in Minbari. Our rank is Shok'na, which roughly translates to Captain."

"And you fight Vampires? Like a Slayer does?" Kendra asked.

"We fight the Darkness, whatever form it may take." Buffy replied.

"As our Order has done for a thousand years." Cordelia added.

"Then it would be an honour to fight by your side." Kendra said, solemnly.

"Welcome to Sunnyhell." Xander said with a grin.

Cordelia rolled her eyes before reaching over and smacking him on the back of the head.

"She's not a puppy. You can't keep her." Cordelia said.

"Come on, Cordy." Xander said with 'puppy dog eyes'. "She's house trained and trained to fight Vampires, and…."

Xander was cut off by Willow putting her hand over his mouth.

"Ignore him." Buffy said. "Most of the time his training stops him from being a complete idiot. Unfortunately this was not one of those times."

"Ewww." Willow said, removing her hand from Xander's mouth and rubbing it on her pants. "That was gross Xander. Next time I'll let you get killed by an irate Slayer."

"I do not understand." Kendra said.

"Xander just licked Willow's hand." Buffy said, and then noted Kendra's still confused expression. "Never mind. So… you prefer staking or decapitation?"

* * *

"Mum. I'm home." Buffy called as she walked in. "And I brought a friend."

Kendra followed close behind Buffy as the senior Slayer gave her a quick tour.

"Lounge Room. Kitchen and Dining Room." Buffy said, dropping her collapsed Pike on the table and sat in one of the chairs.

"Buffy, how many times do I have to tell you, no weapons on the table." Joyce said, and Buffy removed the Pike and clipped it to her belt. "Hello, my name is Joyce."

"Hello, Mrs Summers. My name is Kendra." Kendra said.

"She's a Slayer, Mum. Like me." Buffy said.

"You told your Mother?" Kendra asked, surprised. "It is supposed to be a secret."

"Yeah. So what, it's Sunnydale. You know what's out there or you die." Buffy replied. "So, mum, is it cool if Kendra stays here? It's that or a motel."

"Of course." Joyce replied. "You're welcome to stay in the spare room, Kendra."

"Sweet." Buffy said. "Let's get you settled. We'll get you some new clothes at the mall tomorrow."

Buffy led Kendra up to the spare bedroom and showed her around.

"This is amazing." Kendra said. "I have never had this much room to myself before."

"Good night, Kendra." Buffy said as she left.

* * *

Cordelia, Xander and Willow walked into the massive warehouse. It had been a branch of an aircraft manufacturer who thought a plant not to far from LA would be profitable. It would have been, had they not chosen Sunnydale. Since it was designed for aircraft manufacture, it was a single large open space some seven hundred feet long, five hundred feet wide and three hundred feet high, with faint lines on the floor that marked the different assembly stations. One entire wall of the warehouse was a single roller door. Filling the space was White Star 19. The White Star was an organic looking ship, with a low, sleek profile, that for all its size had a definite air of speed about it.

"Alright, let's do a systems check." Cordy ordered. "I'll take bridge systems. Xander, you take the engine room. Wills, check out the fighters."

"Got it." Xander replied.

The three split up and checked over the different systems. While Cordy was on the bridge, she downloaded the sensor data from the other three White Stars stationed out in the Solar System. For three experienced Captains, it did not take long for them to complete the systems and then shut the ship back down again. When they were done hey gathered back outside the ship.

"Engines check." Xander reported.

"Fighters and Shuttles are good." Willow added.

"Comms and navigation are sound." Cordy reported. "The other White Starts have had some sensor contacts with vessels in proximity of the Solar System, but they all seemed to be just passing through."

"Any idea which beacon they were headed to?" Willow asked.

"They were not standard Hyperspace signals, so we can't even be sure if they even use the standard beacon and Jump Gate system or another tech entirely." Cordelia responded.

* * *

The four Shok'na were sitting around the table in the Library, for once without the presence of Giles, who was currently patrolling with Kendra to evaluate her skills.

"This sensor data is concerning." Xander said. "The signatures do not belong to any known race and it looks like they are using a different kind of FTL drive. If the FTL tech is different, then they could have other kinds of tech that we are unaware of. In combat that could be fatal."

"I agree." Cordelia added. "It underlines the need to fully crew the White Stars and probably a force of Anla'Shok to patrol the Hellmouth when the White Stars are deployed. Unfortunately I can only see another three possible recruits in Sunnydale High, and I don't think any of the adults would make suitable recruits. Possibly four if Kendra proves to have what an Anla'Shok needs."

"A hundred and fifty plus recruits are going to need a dedicated training cadre." Willow pointed out. "I mean I could most certainly write a program to scan student and psychological records to find candidates, but then we will also need a contact team and a cover story for any family for any recruits."

"I would start with candidates in the System. Foster kids, orphanages and such. It would make it easier as far as the families are concerned." Xander replied. "Perhaps even purchase one of those big mansions on the outskirts and use a private school as a cover."

"Not a bad idea." Buffy said. "We could even fund it by selling advanced computer programs. Not 2260's level, but we have archives on the White Stars of stuff from the early 2000's that would be revolutionary now. Security protocols, search functions, that kind of thing. Nothing military."

"We still have the training Cadre problem." Willow pointed out.

"With a private school, we could rotate teaching some of the classes, until we get some more advanced students. But I think Giles would make a good staff combat instructor and he is quickly picking up Minbari, so he could be at least an introductory Minbari instructor." Cordy said.

"I suggest Mrs S as an instructor and maybe on the recruit contact team." Xander put forward.

"You want Mum involved?" Buffy asked.

"Of course. She would be a friendly face for the recruits and their families. She would also be a good mother figure for the newest recruits to help them adjust." Xander replied.

"But as an instructor? What would she teach?" Buffy insisted.

"Ethics." Xander said, with a shrug. "Negotiation tactics, maybe. Spotting a lie at a hundred paces."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at Xander for that comment.

"I agree in principal." Willow said. "But we would need to talk to her fist."

"Do we need the White Stars to be fully staffed by Anla'Shok?" Cordy asked. "Remember the first few White Stars were mostly crewed by the Religious Caste."

"That's because they were the only trained and available crews." Buffy pointed out. "We have no pool of trained personnel to pull from, so if we have to train up a crew anyway, they may as well be Anla'Shok."

"Agreed." Both Xander and Willow said, and Cordy just nodded.

"Any other items?" Xander asked, and all the girls shook their heads no. "Right. Wills, your job is to get that search up and running. Buffy, you and I will start selecting the programs to sell and set up a company to sell them under. Cordy, start scouting the mansions for one we can use as a school."

"I'll also come up with a name, uniform and all that for the school." Cordy said.

"At least the recruits will be well dressed." Buffy said. "But no high fashion on the PT uniforms."

Cordelia just rolled her eyes at this. At that point the meeting was officially concluded when both Giles and Kendra walked into the Library.

"I must say, Kendra, you technique is as close to perfect as I have ever seen." Giles said as he pushed opened the door.

"Thank you, Sir." Kendra replied.

TBC…


End file.
